Saint Paul Catholic Parish, Athens

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CNA Staff, Aug 31, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The Sisters of Life have launched a new website providing resources and support for women considering an abortion, women seeking healing after having an abortion, and women whose children have an adverse prenatal diagnosis.

Vis Center is named after the Latin word “vis,” which means “force” or “power.” “As women, we know that real power is unleashed when you feel listened to,” the website states.

The website includes several testimonial videos of women sharing their personal stories about finding themselves in unplanned pregnancies and the joy they found in deciding to choose life, as well as women sharing their stories of finding healing after undergoing an abortion.

“As Sisters of Life, we care about you, the whole you — body, mind, and soul. That’s why we offer a holistic approach to pregnancy, because we know that before being a medical issue, it’s a spiritual issue — it’s an issue of the heart,” the website reads. 

“We believe that a woman should be empowered to move in freedom, not in fear, and that’s why we stand in solidarity with every woman who is pregnant.”

Sister Virginia Joy, SV, told CNA that while they’ve had a website for many years, “it needed to be updated” as the sisters “are always trying to reach women in crisis with a loving response and practical assistance.” 

Sister Virginia Joy explained that walking with women who find themselves in unplanned pregnancies or are in need of healing after undergoing an abortion is crucial because “God entrusts us to one another.”

“To walk with these women, to listen to them, to love them and assist them in whatever way we can, whether it be through prayer or more active service, is the only appropriate response,” she added.

“We desire this website to bring hope into a situation where so many women feel alone and tempted to despair,” Sister Virginia Joy said. “We have had pregnant women in difficult circumstances say that when they read our brochure or looked at our website they felt hope for the first time in their pregnancy.”

“One woman captured it well when she said, ‘Everyone has been for abortion, no one has been for me,’” she recalled. 

“We desire to be for them. It is a tremendous privilege to walk with these women, to listen to them, and to love them.”

The Sisters of Life was founded in 1991 by Cardinal John O’Connor in New York. It received formal approval as a religious institute in 2004. In addition to taking vows of chastity, obedience, and poverty, the Sisters of Life take a fourth vow — to protect and enhance the sacredness of human life.

The sisters currently serve in the dioceses and archdioceses of New York; Denver; Albany, New York; Bridgeport, Connecticut; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Washington, D.C.; and Toronto.potpoal

Soprano Catherine Wethington sings during a live performance of “Journey of Faith: A Musical Tribute to Mother Teresa” at Carnegie Hall. / Credit: Richard Termine

CNA Staff, Aug 31, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A live musical performance celebrating the life of St. Teresa of Calcutta will be taking center stage at the Music Center at Strathmore in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 6 after a successful performance at the historic Carnegie Hall in New York.

“Journey of Faith: A Musical Tribute to Mother Teresa” highlights the life and legacy of Mother Teresa, especially her service to the poor through the order she founded — the Missionaries of Charity. 

The live musical event is conducted by Dante Santiago Anzolini and features the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, baritone Sean Michael Plumb, and soprano Catherine Wethington, who also curated the show.

In 2019, Wethington was invited to sing in a chamber music festival in the Balkans, which included a concert in Skopje, Macedonia — the hometown of Mother Teresa. There she visited a museum about the life and legacy of the beloved saint and was introduced to a piece of music titled “Divine Waltz, Hymn to Mother Teresa,” which was commissioned by Dijana Toksa for the saint’s 2016 canonization ceremony at the Vatican.

The piece, composed by Genc Tukiçi, uses a poem written by Mother Teresa upon leaving her homeland to accept her call to ministry and was built off a motif composed by her cousin, Lorenc Antoni. Wethington was invited in 2023 to be the soprano soloist for the piece’s Albanian premiere commemorating the 20th anniversary of Mother Teresa’s beatification. 

“The experience of performing this piece in Tirana and recognizing that St. Teresa continues to have a revolutionary impact on people’s lives today led me to create a program that celebrates her journey, her courage, and her faith,” Wethington told CNA in an interview.

The first half of the musical program focuses on Mother Teresa’s ministry to the sick and dying, and the belief that death is not the end but leads to something greater. The second half focuses on the saint’s earthly life — her childhood, her time in India, and her Catholic faith.

“The program is a combination of sacred and secular works that either place us in the physical location of her journey or highlight a part of her life from youthfulness to faithful struggle to global inspiration,” Wethington explained.

The soprano said she hopes “that people walk away from the evening recognizing that her message can impact our communities today, especially as we are surrounded by so much suffering.”

She added: “It’s tempting to place Mother Teresa on such a lofty pedestal that her impact seems beyond our reach. Her greatness didn’t spring from perfection, it grew from perseverance, faith, and relentless compassion in the face of overwhelming need.”

“Her most famous words ring like a challenge across the decades: ‘Small things done with great love will change the world.’ This isn’t mere sentiment, it’s a call to action,” Wethington said. “Her message was elegantly simple: love without condition, serve without pride, act without expecting reward. In doing so, she proved that even one gift, fully given, can transform the world. We can transform the world, too.”

Tickets to the performance in Washington, D.C., can be found here.

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CNA Staff, Aug 30, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

The United States is seeing the highest number of executions in more than a decade, with 30 executions so far in 2025. 

CNA has released three new interactive maps to show where each state in the U.S. stands on life issues — the protection of unborn life, assisted suicide, and the death penalty. The maps will be updated as new information on each issue becomes available.

Below is an analysis of the map that shows where each state stands on death penalty laws as of August 2025.

The death penalty in the U.S. 

The United States is split on the death penalty, which is also known as capital punishment. Twenty-three states have the death penalty, while 23 states have abolished it. In the remaining four states, executions have been temporarily paused via executive action, but the death penalty has not been abolished.

Of the states that have abolished the death penalty, Michigan took the lead, becoming the first state to abolish the death penalty in 1847. Alaska and Hawaii — both newer states — have never had the death penalty.

Five states (Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah) allow the death penalty via firing squad as an alternative to lethal injection.

The federal death penalty can be implemented for certain federal crimes in all 50 states as well as U.S. territories.

A total of 16 federal executions have occurred since the modern federal death penalty was instituted in 1988. 

The federal death penalty was found unconstitutional in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Furman v. Georgia in 1972, but it was later reinstated for certain offenses and then expanded by the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994. 

In 2024, President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 men but left three men on death row.

Where does your state stand on the death penalty? 

Alabama: The death penalty is legal in Alabama. The state has one of the highest per capita execution rates in the nation, with 81 people executed since 1976.

Alaska: Alaska has never had the death penalty. Capital punishment was abolished by the territorial legislature two years before Alaska became a state. Hawaii and Alaska are the only states to have never had capital punishment in state law.

Arizona: The death penalty is currently legal in Arizona but has been paused for various reasons throughout the state’s history. In 2025 executions resumed in Arizona following a three-year pause.

Arkansas: Arkansas allows the death penalty if a defendant is found guilty of capital murder, defined as the premeditated and deliberate death of another person. In 2025, Arkansas became the fifth state to use nitrogen gas for executions.

California: California has had a moratorium on its death penalty since 2019.

Colorado: In 2020, Colorado abolished the death penalty.

Connecticut: In 2012, Connecticut abolished the death penalty for future crimes.

Delaware: The Delaware Supreme Court found capital punishment to be unconstitutional in 2016, and in 2024 Delaware repealed the state’s death penalty laws.

District of Columbia: The District of Columbia does not have a death penalty. It was repealed by the D.C. Council in 1981.

Florida: Florida allows the death penalty for first-degree murder and other capital felonies, including sexual battery. Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2023 ended requirements for juries to vote unanimously for capital punishment. DeSantis also signed legislation allowing capital punishment in the case of sexual battery of children.

Georgia: Georgia law allows the death penalty in cases where the defendants are at least 17 years old and commit certain homicides; for instance, if the method of homicide was depraved or if the defendant committed the murder in a public place threatening other people.

Hawaii: Hawaii abolished the death penalty in 1957 when it was still a territory, prior to becoming a state. Hawaii and Alaska are the only states to have never had capital punishment in state law.

Idaho: Idaho is one of five states to allow the death penalty by firing squads. In 2023, the state allowed this method due to a shortage of lethal-injection drugs. The method can be used if the state cannot obtain lethal-injection drugs.

Illinois: Illinois abolished the death penalty in 2011.

Indiana: In Indiana, the death penalty is legal in some murder cases with “aggravating circumstances” for someone 18 or older who is not intellectually disabled. Lethal injection is the only method of execution that is legal.

Iowa: Iowa abolished the death penalty in 1965. Though some capital punishment proponents have attempted to bring it back over the years, none have succeeded.

Kansas: The death penalty is legal in Kansas, but the state has not executed anyone since 1994. Kansas has abolished and reinstated the death penalty several times.

Kentucky: The death penalty is legal in Kentucky for those convicted of murder with aggravating circumstances.

Louisiana: The death penalty is legal in Louisiana.

Maine: Maine abolished the death penalty in 1887.

Maryland: Maryland abolished the death penalty in 2013.

Massachusetts: Massachusetts abolished the death penalty in 1984.

Michigan: Michigan was the first state — and the first government in the English-speaking world — to abolish the death penalty. It abolished capital punishment in its constitution in 1847.

Minnesota: In 1911, Minnesota abolished the death penalty via the state Legislature.

Mississippi: Mississippi is one of five states to allow the death penalty by firing squad.

Missouri: Capital punishment is legal in Missouri, typically for first-degree murder with aggravating factors.

Montana: The death penalty is legal in Montana.

Nebraska: Though Nebraska lawmakers have debated abolishing the death penalty in recent years, it remains legal.

Nevada: The death penalty is legal in Nevada in first-degree murder cases with at least one aggravating circumstance.

New Hampshire: New Hampshire abolished the death penalty in 2019 after the state Legislature overrode the governor’s veto of the repeal bill.

New Jersey: New Jersey abolished the death penalty in 2007.

New Mexico: New Mexico abolished the death penalty in 2009.

New York: In 2004, the New York Court of Appeals declared New York’s death penalty law unconstitutional.

North Carolina: The death penalty is legal in North Carolina for first-degree murder cases with an aggravating factor. The state law has 11 aggravating factors, including for sexual offenses, cruelty, and murder of a witness or law enforcement officer.

North Dakota: In 1973, North Dakota abolished the death penalty.

Ohio: In 2020, Gov. Mike DeWine declared a moratorium on the death penalty in Ohio.

Oklahoma: Oklahoma has the highest per capita state execution rate, with 127 executions from 1976–2024. Oklahoma is one of five states to allow capital punishment by firing squad.

Oregon: Executions have been paused as Oregon has had a moratorium on the death penalty since 2011.

Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania has had a moratorium on executions since 2015.

Rhode Island: Rhode Island abolished the death penalty in 1852. The state briefly reinstated it in 1872, but it never carried out another execution.

South Carolina: South Carolina is one of five states to allow the death penalty by firing squad.

South Dakota: In South Dakota, the death penalty is legal only in cases where someone dies. Those who are declared insane or those with mental disabilities cannot be sentenced to capital punishment.

Tennessee: The death penalty is legal in Tennessee. In 2022, Gov. Bill Lee placed a moratorium on capital punishment for review of lethal injection protocols, but executions recently reopened.

Texas: Texas has the second-highest per capita state execution rate, with 101 executions from 1976–2024.

Utah: Utah is one of five states to allow the death penalty by firing squad, and it has been requested twice in recent years. States with this option usually allow defendants to choose, as some say it is less painful and more instantaneous than lethal injection, which at times has taken hours to cause death.

Vermont: Vermont abolished the death penalty in 1972 after the U.S. Supreme Court — for a brief period of time — declared the punishment unconstitutional in Furman v. Georgia.

Virginia: Virginia abolished the death penalty in 2021.

Washington: In 2018, the Washington state Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional, citing racial bias and arbitrariness. In 2023, capital punishment was formally removed from state law.

West Virginia: West Virginia abolished the death penalty in 1965, though there have been attempts to reinstate it in recent years.

Wisconsin: Wisconsin abolished the death penalty in 1953, one of the first states to do so.

Wyoming: The death penalty by lethal injection is legal in Wyoming. It is not allowed if the person is mentally incapacitated or pregnant.

Federal: The death penalty is legal on a federal level in the United States of America. The Trump administration restored the death penalty on Jan. 20, 2025, via an executive order.

Catholic Church teaching on the death penalty

In 2018, the Vatican developed the Church’s teaching on the death penalty, with Pope Francis updating the Catechism of the Catholic Church to reflect that the death penalty is “inadmissible” in the contemporary landscape. 

Previous teaching in the catechism issued during the pontificate of St. John Paul II permitted the death penalty in “very rare” cases, saying that “cases of absolute necessity for suppression of the offender ‘today ... are very rare, if not practically nonexistent” (CCC, 2267, pre-2018).

null / Credit: Trevor Owens via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 30, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Here’s a roundup of the latest Catholic education news in the United States:

Catholic University of America professor receives $3.89 million for study on beauty

Brandon Vaidyanathan, a professor of sociology at The Catholic University of America, has received a $3.89 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation for a “first-of-its-kind, large-scale international study of beauty,” the university announced.

“The project will serve as a powerful catalyst to spur scholars, practitioners, and communities to take beauty seriously as a force for good in the world,” Vaidyanathan said.

Titled after a question posed by Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “Can Beauty Save the World? Aesthetic Engagement Among the Spiritual But Not Religious,” will center on understanding how experiences of beauty generate “a sense of meaning and transcendence” the university indicated.

St. Louis University launches yearlong AI series amid debates over rising use

St. Louis University has announced its College of Philosophy and Letters and its Catholic Studies program will host a yearlong program, “The Pope Leo Series on AI and the Social Teachings of the Church.”

The series, which launched on Aug. 27 with an event on AI and the future of work, will consist of a monthly panel examining AI from a different aspect of Catholic social teaching and will feature a variety of academic experts on the subject, according to a press release.

Future panels will examine how AI affects education, health care, warfare, how man relates to God, and society and human relationships.

Held in the university’s Catholic Studies Center, all panels will be free to the public. A representative of the university told CNA the series will be recorded but not livestreamed. 

“The goal of this series is to promote integration and interdisciplinary dialogue about artificial intelligence and its impact through sustained shared reflection on the social teaching of the Church, using as a springboard a Vatican document recommended by the new pope: Antiqua et Nova,” the university stated. 

Villanova University granted $822,258 for Augustinian project

Wake Forest University and Lilly Endowment Inc. have awarded Villanova University $822,258 to go toward its “Educating Augustinian Character” project and to support the creation of an “Augustinian Ambassadors” program for undergraduates. 

The grant will also benefit efforts “to make Augustinian character formation deeper and more accessible,” according to a press release from the university.

“This grant gives us the capacity to expand our efforts to advance our formative programming in a way that’s robustly Augustinian while also bringing in the fruits of a larger national conversation around universities and character education,” said one of the program’s co-directors, Anna Bonta Moreland.

Villanova is the alma mater of Pope Leo XIV, who is an Augustinian religious.

Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on Jan. 28, 2024. / Credit: Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 29, 2025 / 18:52 pm (CNA).

News this week of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s engagement sparked positive commentary from a wide cross-section of Catholics on social media, who anticipate a positive cultural shift from the marriage between the beloved pop star and Kansas City Chiefs tight end. 

“Expect a spike in marriage,” wrote marriage and family expert Brad Wilcox in a social media post. “Taylor and Travis put a ring on it.” 

“The Life of a Showgirl” singer announced her engagement to Kelce in an Aug. 26 Instagram post, captioned: “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.”

Wilcox, the author of “Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization,” noted in another post the engagement came on the same day as a new study highlighting the value of marriage for women today.

The study, “In Pursuit: Marriage, Motherhood, and Women’s Well-Being,” found married women with children make up the majority of women ages 25 to 55 who describe themselves as “very happy.”

Swift’s engagement “as a sort of left-leaning pop celebrity could create a space where it’s OK again for center-left Americans, both elite and ordinary Americans, to publicly embrace marriage,” Wilcox also told the Wall Street Journal.

“Marriage is a beautiful thing,” Students for Life President Kristan Hawkins chimed in, reacting to the news on social media. 

She added: “I hope Taylor Swift’s engagement inspires young women to see the joy and purpose in getting married, starting a family, and committing to one person for the rest of their lives.” In another post, Hawkins expressed confidence that “America is heading into its ‘get married and have babies era.’”

Defending the singer against negative reactions on social media to the news of her engagement, CEO and founder of the Classical Learning Test Jeremy Wayne Tate wrote in a post on X: “I’m disappointed with some conservatives today … Boy proposed to girl to enter into the most traditional relationship in human history … marriage.”

“That’s a beautiful thing,” he added. “Just say congratulations.”

LiveAction President Lila Rose also congratulated the happy couple on social media and praised their decision to get married. 

“Marriage is the best and tons of women look up to Taylor,” Rose said. “So happy to see her embracing it.”

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 29, 2025 / 18:13 pm (CNA).

After a man fired over a hundred bullets into a Minneapolis Catholic Church killing two children and injuring 17 others, thousands of mourners packed into an archdiocesan vigil to pray for the victims and their families with Archbishop Bernard Hebda and other clergy members.

“We know that there are a lot of other things that need to be done [and] we need to be able to address these issues in civic society, but what we do together tonight is to pray,” Hebda told grieving Catholics at the Academy of Holy Angels, just two miles from Annunciation Church, where the tragedy occurred.

“And we look for the words that are able to express inexpressible grief,” he said. “We look for those symbols that might bring some hope. … We come together in our trials and we trust that God will answer us, that he will hear our pain, that he will hear our prayers.”

Catholics across the country held their own vigils or offered prayers for the victims, as did many Protestants and people of other faiths.

Yet as communities sought comfort and a connection with God amid the tragedy, some figures in the media and even politicians went in the opposite direction. On social media and in public statements, those individuals derided prayer and dismissed its role in addressing suffering and societal ills.

“I’m tired of being told this is normal — and you should be too,” Rep. Brittany Pettersen, D-Colorado, said in a post on X. “Thoughts and prayers aren’t going to do anything to fix this.”

Rep. Maxwell Frost, co-chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, echoed that sentiment, stating on X that “these children were probably praying when they were shot to death at Catholic school.”

“Don’t give us your [expletive] thoughts and prayers,” Frost added.

Jen Psaki, an MSNBC host who served in the administrations of former presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, wrote on X that “prayer is not freaking enough.”

“Prayers [do] not end school shootings,” she added. “Prayers do not make parents feel safe sending their kids to school. Prayer does not bring these kids back. Enough with the thoughts and prayers.”

Why Catholics turn to God in times of need

Over the past few days, Catholics and other Christians have pushed back on the negative view of prayer promoted by some lawmakers and members of the media.

In response to Psaki’s comments, Franciscan University explained through its X account that “prayer is not an escape from reality” but is rather “the very place we meet Christ, who himself was unjustly slain.”

“We will continue to pray, not because we are passive, but because we know only God can bring true justice, healing, and peace,” the university added. “Evil wants us to stop praying and to despair. We will not. We cling to Christ, who has conquered death.”

Franciscan University held a prayer vigil Thursday night for the victims, which about 500 students attended.

University President Father Dave Pivonka, TOR, told CNA: “It makes sense that Catholics would come together and pray given that [the shooting] took place at a Catholic church.” He added: “One of the things that Catholics do is we pray.”

The insinuation of anti-prayer rhetoric, Pivonka said, is that “prayer isn’t doing something.” He rejected that notion, saying “prayer has a great impact.” In the midst of tragedy, he noted that many people are looking to help and offering prayers for “the Lord’s peace to be with them [and] the Lord’s presence to be with them” is a “beautiful way to do that.”

Pivonka said he also prays for public officials, “that God would give them courage, that God would give them wisdom” to address political issues. He said Catholics should also engage society, the culture, and the political world.

He noted that Minnesota’s Catholic bishops had been asking state lawmakers to provide funds for security, which was ultimately not given. He said: “That’s a very active thing that they were trying to do.”

“Yes, we’re praying, but yes we’re doing actions to try to bring about this change,” Pivonka said.

Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, wrote in an op-ed for the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, that his diocese established a Mental Health Council to provide “guidance, responses, and resources to support those experiencing mental health issues as well as to their family members.”

He noted that Catholics can do “certainly, more than one thing,” such as security, mental health resources, engagement with public officials, and acts of charity and compassion.

“Above all, we can and must pray with daily fervency, calling out to the Lord, striving to remain close to him, and asking him to grant us all the peace only he can give,” Burbidge wrote.

Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, told Fox News Digital that “prayer is the raising of the mind and heart to God, which strikes me as altogether appropriate precisely at times of great pain.”

“Prayer by no means stands in contrast to decisive moral action,” he said. “... This is not an either/or proposition.”

Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, also joined the conversation, posting on X in response to Psaki that any criticism of prayer is “bizarre.”

“We pray because our hearts are broken,” he wrote. “We pray because we know God listens. We pray because we know that God works in mysterious ways and can inspire us to further action. Why do you feel the need to attack other people for praying when kids were just killed praying?”

Over $1 million has been raised through a GoFundMe campaign for victims of the shooting at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. / Credit: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Aug 29, 2025 / 12:21 pm (CNA).

Numerous online fundraising campaigns have raised well over $1 million to help support victims of the Minneapolis Catholic school shooting that claimed the lives of two children and injured approximately 20 people. 

Verified GoFundMe fundraisers showed over $1.2 million raised as of the morning of Aug. 29, with the funds supporting those injured in the shooting as well as the family of one of the deceased children. 

The mass shooting took place on Aug. 27 when a gunman opened fire on the parochial school Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis. The killer subsequently took his own life. 

The GoFundMe campaigns created in response to the tragedy include one in support of the Moyski-Flavin family, whose 10-year-old daughter, Harper, was one of the two children killed in the shooting. The other victim has been identified as 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel. 

The GoFundMe for Harper’s family says the funds will “be utilized by the family in honor of Harper’s memory with a portion donated in Harper’s honor to a nonprofit to be identified at a later date.” As of Friday morning it had raised about $80,000 of its $100,000 goal.

The largest campaign had raised roughly $530,000 of a $620,000 goal as of Friday morning to help support 12-year-old Sophia Forchas, who the fund said was “in critical condition in the ICU” after being shot during the attack.

The funds for that campaign will contribute to Sophia’s medical care, trauma counseling for her and her brother, family support services, and lost wages.

Other campaigns include fundraisers for 9-year-old Vivian St. Clair, 11-year-old Genevieve Bisek, and 13-year-old Endre Gunter.

‘Give your kids an extra hug’

In the hours after the shooting, family members of Harper Moyski and Fletcher Merkel identified them as the two children killed in the incident, which the FBI is investigating as a possible hate crime against Catholics.

“Because of [the shooter’s] actions, we will never be allowed to hold [Fletcher], talk to him, play with him, and watch him grow into the wonderful young man he was on the path to becoming,” the Merkel family said after the shooting.

“Please remember Fletcher for the person he was and not the act that ended his life,” the statement said. “Give your kids an extra hug and kiss today. We love you. Fletcher, you’ll always be with us.”

The Moyski-Flavin family, meanwhile, said they were “shattered, and words cannot capture the depth of our pain.” 

“No family should ever have to endure this kind of pain,” they said. “We urge our leaders and communities to take meaningful steps to address gun violence and the mental health crisis in this country.”

The other victims of the shooting are expected to survive, authorities have said, though several remain in serious condition.

Prior to carrying out the murders, the killer, identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, a man who struggled with his sexual identity, indicated anti-Christian motivation for the murders and an affinity for mass shooters, Satanism, antisemitism, and racism.

Time Magazine named Pope Leo XIV (pictured in the Paul VI Audience Hall) one of its Top 100 most influential thinkers concerning AI on Aug. 28, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 29, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Time Magazine included Pope Leo XIV in its 2025 list of the “World’s Most Influential People in Artificial Intelligence” on Thursday, Aug. 28, praising the pontiff’s focus on the ethical concerns related to the emerging technology.

The magazine listed the top 100 influential people in artificial intelligence (AI) in four categories: Leaders, Innovators, Shapers, and Thinkers. Leo XIV is among the 25 most influential thinkers in the field, according to Time.

In a profile included in the magazine, Time technology correspondent Andrew Chow noted that Leo XIV chose his papal name, in part, based on the need for the Church to address ethical matters related to AI and wrote that the Holy Father is “already making good on his vow.”

When the pontiff met with the College of Cardinals two days after he assumed the papacy, he said he took the name in honor of Pope Leo XIII, who had “addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution.”

Leo XIII, who was pope from 1878 until 1903, published the encyclical Rerum Novarum, which discussed the needs of the working class amid the industrial revolution. The text eschewed both socialism and unrestrained market power, opting for cooperation between competing interests that is centered on the dignity of the human person.

The current pope, Leo XIV, said he took the name because of the “developments in the field of artificial intelligence,” which he noted pose “new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor.”

Time’s profile noted that the Vatican hosted the Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Corporate Governance in June, and stated: “Leo XIV’s keynote speech underlined AI’s potential as a force for good, particularly in health care and scientific discovery.”

“But AI ‘raises troubling questions on its possible repercussions on humanity’s openness to truth and beauty, on our distinctive ability to grasp and process reality,’ he added,” the profile stated, quoting the Holy Father. “And he warned that the technology could be misused for ‘selfish gain at the expense of others, or worse, to foment conflict and aggression.’”

Other figures on Time’s list include xAI founder Elon Musk, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, and Sen. Chris Murphy.

This is the third annual list published by Time focusing on the most influential people in AI.

“We launched this list in 2023, in the wake of OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT, the moment many became aware of AI’s potential to compete with and exceed the capabilities of humans,” Time Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs wrote regarding the publication of the list.

“Our aim was to show how the direction AI travels will be determined not by machines but by people — innovators, advocates, artists, and everyone with a stake in the future of this technology,” he added. “... This year’s list further confirms our focus on people.”

Police cruisers near Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis on Aug. 27, 2025, following a mass shooting that killed two children and injured 17 others, 14 of them children. / Credit: Chad Davis, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 29, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The shooter who killed two children and injured 17 others at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis on Aug. 27 voiced some regret over his 'gender transition' efforts when he was a minor, according to handwritten notes he displayed in a YouTube video before the attack.

Robin Westman, who was named “Robert” at birth, legally changed his name when he was 17 years old to reflect his self-identified status as a transgender girl. Court documents show that his mother signed off on the name change.

Westman published videos to YouTube shortly before the attack, which contained written notes, some of which were in English and others using the Cyrillic alphabet. Several Slavic languages use the Cyrillic script, but Westman was not writing in any of them. Rather, he tried to match the sounds of the Cyrillic letters to form English-language words when read aloud.

According to a partial translation published by the New York Post, Westman wrote: “I regret being trans,” and added: “I wish I was a girl. I just know I cannot achieve that body with the technology we have today. I also can’t afford that.”

The Post’s translation states that Westman also wrote he wished “I never brainwashed myself,” but kept his long hair “because it is pretty much my last shred of being trans.”

“I can’t cut my hair now as it would be an embarrassing defeat, and it might be a concerning change of character that could get me reported,” he wrote. “It just always gets in my way. I will probably chop it on the day of the attack.”

According to the translation, Westman also wrote: “I know I am not a woman but I definitely don’t feel like a man.”

Jason Evert: Westman did not get ‘mental health care he needed’

Chastity Project Founder Jason Evert, who authored “Male, Female, Other? A Catholic Guide to Understanding Gender,” told EWTN News that he believes Westman “was not receiving … the mental health care that he needed.”

Evert noted that many people who struggle with gender dysphoria often suffer from other mental health conditions, such as major depressive disorder or borderline personality disorder, or have experienced bullying, isolation, and social distress.

“If they’re being told, ‘Well, hey, you need to change your outfit or change your name, and you’ll feel at home in your own body,’ … it’s depriving the young people to have opportunities to live in their bodies and get the clinical intervention that they actually need to receive,” he said. 

Catholic teaching

In 2024, the Vatican issued the declaration Dignitas Infinita, which teaches that “the soul and the body both participate in [human] dignity” and the body “is endowed with personal meanings, particularly in its sexed condition.” It adds that “sex-change intervention … risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception.”

In contrast, Evert noted that doctors in the United States primarily follow the “Dutch protocol,” which is to “affirm” a person’s self-asserted transgender identity and then provide minors with puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and eventually transgender surgeries. However, recent studies have shown that most children outgrow transgender inclinations and that surgeries do not solve their mental health issues.

“It’s not working,” he added. “We’re actually contributing to a mental illness instead of actually treating it. We’re depriving these young people of opportunities and strategies to learn how to live in their bodies. And instead of that, we’re giving them hormones and telling them that they can hurt their body in order to be their authentic selves.”

Yet, Evert urged caution against suggesting that Westman’s gender dysphoria was the reason for the attack, emphasizing that “most people who do experience gender dysphoria would never commit an atrocity like this and most people who have committed school shootings do not identify as trans.”

“I think it’s careful that we at least explain that, so as to not stir up animosity amongst young people who might be struggling with their sense of sexual identity,” Evert said.

What we know about the shooter’s motive

Police have not identified a clear motive up to this point, but FBI Director Kash Patel announced that the agency is investigating the tragedy as “an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics.”

Videos Westman recorded before the shooting demonstrate some anti-Catholic motivation.

The videos show that Westman had attached an image of Jesus Christ wearing the crown of thorns to the head of a human-shaped shooting target. He also wrote anti-Christian messages on his guns and loaded magazines, which included “Where’s your God?” and a comment that mocked the words of Christ by writing “take this all of you and eat” on a rifle.

Some of the drawings also appeared Satanic, including an inverted pentagram and an inverted cross.

Other messages showed hatred toward Jewish people, Black people, Hispanic people, Indian people, and Arab people. The messages also included threats against President Donald Trump.

Some of Westman’s writings highlight a struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts. He also apologized to his family for the trouble his attack would cause them but made clear he was not sorry to the children he wanted to murder. He showed a strong affinity for mass murderers.

null / Credit: ArtOlympic/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Aug 29, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news in the United States:

Illinois man faces homicide charge after allegedly poisoning girlfriend, unborn child with abortion pill

A 31-year-old Illinois man has been arrested for homicide of an unborn child after allegedly poisoning his girlfriend with abortion pills.

Police in Bloomington, Illinois, arrested Emerson Evans after police found the girlfriend in a bathroom with what appeared to be a human fetus in the toilet on Aug. 22, according to court documents.

The girlfriend, who was seven weeks pregnant, told police that the boyfriend had told her he wanted her to have an abortion, but she did not want an abortion. Evans has been charged with intentional homicide of an unborn child after allegedly poisoning his girlfriend and their child.

With the rise of the abortion pill, similar cases have been documented across the United States. In Texas this summer, two men are being charged for poisoning the mothers of their children with the abortion pill, leading to the deaths of their unborn children.

Illinois governor mandates that chemical abortion pills be offered on public college campuses

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed a law mandating that public universities offer chemical abortion and contraceptives this school year.

The new law requires all public colleges to offer abortion pills on their on-campus pharmacies and at student health centers. Pritzker also expanded shield laws protecting abortionists from laws in pro-life states.

On-campus student activism prompted the abortion pill mandate on college campuses, according to a local report. Recent graduates of a local public college testified in support of the bill after a student referendum question brought the issue to their campus.

Local bishop calls allegations that public school-funded student abortions ‘deeply troubling’

A local bishop has voiced concern over a report that a Virginia public school facilitated and funded abortion procedures for students.  

The report, Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington said during a recent podcast, is “deeply troubling.”

Staff at Centreville High School, part of the Fairfax County Public Schools system, arranged abortions for two pregnant high school girls in 2021, according to a report by Walter Curt Dispatch Investigations from earlier this month.

According to the investigative report, one of the girls, who was 17 years old at the time, had an abortion after a school official brought her to an abortion facility.

“How terrible that the minors may have been advised or even provided funds to end the life of a child,” Burbidge said. 

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is investigating the report as state law protects minors from having abortions without parental consent. 

“The governor has rightly called for a full investigation, and we will await the outcome,” Burbidge said. 

Texas ‘Women and Child Protection Act’ closing abortion pill loophole advances

Texas lawmakers are advancing a bill to stop mail-order abortion pills amid the illegal abortion pill crisis.

The bill would enable Texas to shut down abortion pill companies that are sending abortion pills to Texas, where the law protects unborn children from abortion in most cases. 

The bill would also enable women who are harmed by illegal abortions to sue, according to Texas Right to Life.   

The Women and Child Protection Act, which was put forward by state Rep. Jeff Leach and sponsored by state Sen. Bryan Hughes, will head to the House floor next.  

Texas Right to Life said in a statement that abortion businesses “ship lethal pills into Texas illegally from other states and countries — to the tune of at least 19,000 orders of abortion drugs each year.” 

New Jersey pregnancy centers challenge state attorney general investigation 

Five New Jersey pregnancy centers filed an opening brief in the U.S. Supreme Court alleging that their state attorney general targeted them with an “unconstitutional investigation” in which the government demanded personal information of donors and other confidential documents. 

First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, the collective of five faith-based pregnancy centers, challenged state Attorney General Matthew Platkin for issuing a subpoena demanding that First Choice disclose names, addresses, places of employment, and phone numbers of donors as well as up to 10 years of internal confidential documents, according to a press release. 

The opening brief also alleges that Platkin made an attempt “to manufacture procedural roadblocks to evade federal court review” and displayed an “undisguised animosity” toward the pregnancy centers.

Aimee Huber, executive director of First Choice, said in a statement that the attorney general has been “pursuing a personal and political vendetta” against them for more than two years.

Senior Counsel Erin Hawley of Alliance Defending Freedom, the legal nonprofit arguing on behalf of First Choice, added that the attorney general was “targeting” the pregnancy center.